The dignity of Chartism

Dorothy Thompson, Verso, 206 pages, 14.99

Verso books has published these ground-breaking studies of Britain’s first major working class movement.

This is the first collection of essays on Chartism by leading social historian Dorothy Thompson, whose work radically transformed the way in which Chartism is understood. Reclaiming Chartism as a fully-blown working class movement, Thompson intertwines her penetrating analyses of class with ground-breaking research uncovering the role played by women in the movement.

Throughout her essays, Thompson strikes a delicate balance between down-to-earth accounts of local uprisings, snappy portraits of high-profile Chartist figures as well as rank and file men and women, and more theoretical, polemical interventions.

Of particular historical and political significance is the previously unpublished substantial essay co-authored by Dorothy and Edward Thompson. This is a superb piece of local historical research by two social historians then on the brink of notable careers.

Reviews contributed by the Bookmarks socialist bookshop.

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